I stepped out of the tension filled maths classroom, into the deserted halls, closing the door gently behind me. To my surprise, Zara was nowhere to be seen. I took a few cautious strides further down the hall that was lined with lockers. Where on earth could she have gotten to so quickly? Zara was a few inches shorter than me, so her little legs could not possibly have gone far.

"BOO!" Zara suddenly emerged from a break between the lockers, arms wailing about in all directions in an attempt to scare me.

And she did exactly just that. My heart skipped a beat and I put a hand out to the side to steady myself against one of the lockers.

"Jesus, Zar. You scared the shit out of me!"

Zara pinched her nose with her thumb and index finger. "Yuck, I hope not!"

I rolled my eyes. "So! Where should we go?" I changed the subject, now realising we had about just over an hour to kill.

Zara's grey eyes widened, accompanied by full, arching brows. "You want to skip class?" Besides her tendency to talk back to teachers, Zara was a fairly good student. She studied and got good grades.

I couldn't say the same. I averaged C's and pretty much did the bare minimum for all studying. But I wasn't quite the type to wag school, that was more Theo Archer's style.

I suppressed a smile at the thought of him. Everytime I heard his name, or thought of him my feelings grew more and more confused. I hated it. I think.

"Yeah I wanna skip class! You up for icecream?"

The doubtful expression on my best friends face vanished at the mention of food. Couldn't blame her.

"Yes! I'll drive."

We raced together across the corridor, down the stairs and into the breeze outside in the student parking area. Zara unlocked her car and we got into her cute red hatchback, chucking our bags in the back. My heart raced as she reversed out of the park and drove out of the gates of hell. Literally. Wesley High had tall, outdated gates at the school's entrance.

My heart was beating, and it wasn't from the rarity that I had actually ran - I had never skipped class before. It was exhilarating and I could tell Zara was thinking the same when I noticed her trembling hands and the excited grin plastered on her pretty face.

Zara turned on the radio and we both squealed when Wild Thoughts played out through the speakers. We sang our hearts out song after song, the wind whipping at out hair. This was the most thrilling thing we had ever done. Zara pulled up outside Giani's Icecream, and we bolted out of our seats and into the store.

The door curtains slapped against my skin as I entered, the door bell alerting the staff we had come in.

I eagerly scanned the display for my favourite icecream - Choc Lovers. It was a swirl of milk and dark chocolate with a hint of Nutella. I already knew Zara was going to order three scoops of rainbow in a waffle cone.

"Belle! What can I get you?" A chubby old man appeared at the counter, Gianni's unmistakably Italian accent filled the store. Knowing my Italian heritage, Gianni always tried to speak in Italian with me, which I was terrible at. I only ever spoke Italian with my Nonna. Not many people knew of my Italian ancestry because of my father's typical American surname which I share, but anyone who has met my mother Antonella would be able to tell by her faint accent and dark skin.

Zara stepped forward and pressed a finger against the glass. "Can I have three scoops of rainbow in a waffle cone please!"

"Si, si!" Gianni nodded, grabbing a silver scoop and perfectly rolling the icecream into three balls.

"E tu?" Gianni lips curved into a wide smile beneath his moustache.

"Two scoops Choc Lovers." I requested.

Gianni frowned at my lack of Italian, so I quickly added, "Per favore".

His face lit up and he continued to fill my cone with chocolate goodness.

Once we had our cones in hands, both Zara and I thanked Gianni, Zara's in English through a mouth full of ice-cream, mine in Italian.

"Prego ragazze!" Gianni called out us as we carefully manoeuvred our way out of the curtain covered doorway, so as to not ruin our ice-cream.

The sea breeze welcomed us outside, making it extremely difficult for us to eat without getting a mouthful of hair. Without speaking, both Zara and I started toward the beach. It was basically tradition for us to walk down the jetty whenever we got ice-cream.

By the time we reached the wooden planks, Zara had long since finished her cone. I was a slow eater however, and liked to take my time enjoying every moment with my precious chocolate heaven.

"I get it now!" Zara stopped in her tracks and threw her hands in the air, as if she had just made some huge scientific discovery.

I looked up from my ice-cream to meet her eyes, my face painted with curiosity.

"That's why you love chocolate!" She beamed. "you always talk about Theo's 'oh so dreamy chocolate eyes'." Zara mimicked me, laying the back of their hand over her eyes dramatically.

I choked on my ice-cream. "I do not! I have loved chocolate since birth." I added, "And I have never once said that in my life. Liar."

Zara nodded, "Okay I believe you. You didn't say it."

I smiled and tussled my bestfriend's blonde hair. "Good. You're finally admitting that you're wr-"

"You just wrote it all over you sixth grade diary." Zara burst into laughter.

"Oh god," I cringed at my sixth grade self. "Where did you find that!?" I had completely forgotten about the phase I went through when I was 12, writing all my thoughts into that stupid book. And yes, I liked Theo in sixth grade - every girl did. Until I saw him with Olivia Parker, making out in the gymnasium storage room. Yuck.

"Reece told me about it the other day." Zara explained casually, licking a remaining drop of ice-cream off her finger.

"WHAT!" I shouted, my heart suddenly racing. Reece knew? How is that even possible? Oh my god. Theo would know too!

"I'm kidding, jeez." Zara chuckled. I wanted to kick her into the ocean right about now. "I saw it under your bed ages ago. Don't worry, I never told anyone. Not even the part where you kept the towel he used at basketball practice. That was just really weird."

I covered my face with my hands. It was true. One time in seventh grade I accidentally walked into the boys locker room after their basketball practice, Theo threw a towel at me and I was so horrified that I ran all the way home with it still hanging from its landing place. On my head. I think my mom uses it to clean now, clearly not caring that it has written in big bold letters W.H.J.B.

"It's not as creepy as it sounds, I promise." I peeked through my fingers to see Zara arch an eyebrow at me.

"Whatever." Zara let out a small laugh.

I pushed her playfully, and she careered to the left, steadying herself at the last minute by grabbing hold of the hand rail.

Zara caught up with me, and gave me a not so playful push in return. I too, went careering towards the hand rail but I was not as lucky to grab hold of it, and instead crashed into the metal, my hip burning at the impact. I started at Zara, hoping to get her back. She put her hands out in front of her.

"Stop! Please stop, don't!!" She begged. I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Truce?" Zara offered, spreading her arms for a hug. I hid my smirk as an evil plan came to mind.

"Fine." I pretended to accept. I spread my arms, too. As she stepped to wards me, I shifted position at the last minute and gave her a shove, sending her a few steps backward.

"Okay, okay! You win." Zara surrendered, throwing her hands in the air.

I lifted my chin proudly and smiled. I win.

_________________________

A.N-

Sorry if this chapter was a little boring, but Zara is an important character and I wanted to feature her a bit more.

As usual, please comment or vote if you are enjoying the story!